The Communist Party of the Philippines extends its solidarity with the working class and people of Sri Lanka as they wage resistance in the face an acute social and economic crisis marked by acute shortages of basic commodities, spiralling prices, plummeting wages resulting in widespread hunger and sufferings.

Yesterday’s uprising of hundreds of thousands of toiling masses who drove out the much detested Gotabaya Rajapaksa from his presidential palace demonstrated once again the power of the people in shaping their country’s history. A few months ago, they also succeeded in driving away Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa from his parliamentary seat. The Rajapaksas are like the Marcoses of the Philippines, who led lavish lifestyles amid widespread hunger and suffering of the people. They are also responsible for leading the genocidal war in the early 2000s which saw the killing of around 40,000 Tamil people.

Of course, the ruling economic and political system that has reduced the working class and toiling people of Sri Lanka to such miserable conditions remain standing, even as political power is being transferred to other representatives of the ruling classes. The country continues to suffer under the weight of neoliberal economic policies imposed by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization and other imperialist agencies.

To fundamentally change the course of their lives, the working class of Sri Lanka must lead a genuine revolution in order to smash the ruling reactionary state, expropriate the exploiters and oppressors of their wealth and means of production, establish the political rule of the proletariat and democratic classes, and chart the path of socialist construction and revolution.

Around the world, hundreds of millions of poeple face backward and non-industrial conditions similar to Sri Lanka, as imperialist powers impose more and more debilitating measures to plunder their land, forest and marine resources, exploit cheap workers wages, dump their surplus commodities, in order to extract superprofits in the face of the prolonged crisis of the international capitalist system. Even in the global capitalist centers, workers are suffering from spiralling prices of fuel and commodities and low wages.

The economic sanctions imposed by the US government against Russia are causing widespread supply disruptions which are being taken advantaged of by imperialist banks and financial houses who engage in price speculations in oil and all sorts of commodities. People’s livelihood face grave threats of hyperinflation, further production slowdown, mass unemployment leading to another global recession.

The uprising of workers and people in Sri Lanka highlights the massive protest actions that have erupted in various parts of the world over the past few weeks and months, including those in Ecuador, Uruguay, South Korea, the United Kingdom and Beligum. In all likelihood, it won’t be the last as millions of people around the world, including Filipino workers, peasants and toiling people, face increasingly acute socioeconomic conditions that are intensifying their desire for social change and revolution.